At the beginning of the school year, I volunteered to help with the Reflections Art Program contest at my kids elementary school. The contest is a nationwide arts contest where students can submit literature, music, artwork, photography, dance choreography and a few other things.
I was a judge for the literature category, but to get the word out, I had the opportunity to go around to several classrooms to tell them about it and encourage them to create, then submit something. As I went around to the different classrooms, I told several of them this story:
When I was in the fourth grade, my teacher shared my turkey poem with my parents at parent-teacher-conference. I can't remember what the turkey poem was about – I mean, a turkey, obviously – but my teacher recognized that I had somewhat of a gift for writing.
She encouraged me to enter the Reflections contest. So I did. I wrote a short story, and won first place for literature for my entire school.
This was a huge thing for me and I count it as the intercept or a pivot point when I realized I wanted to become a writer.
So I told those kids that I entered the contest, won, and it made me realize I love to write and now I'm an author.
A lot of the kids thought this was a cool story and they were excited to enter something, but one boy in one class raised his hand and asked, “So if I win, do I have to be an author?”
😂😂😂😂
He was so worried! It was so cute and so funny. I told him that he didn't have to, but I did it because I wanted to.
This week marks a major milestone for me. Four years ago on March 22, my debut novel, In Her Dreams, was published.
I have learned so much and I've made so many mistakes in these past four years! But I am so glad I took the plunge and did it!
I'm sure I'll make more mistakes and learn a whole lot more in the next four years, but I can't wait to see where that takes me and the people I will connect with through my stories.